


Together in Paris

by whelvenwings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Jo Harvelle & Dean Winchester Friendship, M/M, Paris (City), Summer Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 11:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21301544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whelvenwings/pseuds/whelvenwings
Summary: Dean has been excited for months to go on vacation with his best friend, Jo. But as they post their pics on the trip, people back home keep commenting about what a great couple they are, and it's starting to make things awkward in their friendship. In front of a sunset backdrop by the Eiffel Tower, Dean decides to take things into his own hands, and manufacture a picture of a "real" romantic moment with someone who definitely isn't Jo. Only thing he needs to do now is find someone willing to pretend to be his partner for a picture...
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 40
Kudos: 637





	Together in Paris

“She’s commented again.”

“Ugh. Don’t even tell me what she said.” Parisian sunlight was reflecting off Dean’s sunglasses. It was too hot to wear a jacket, and he felt strangely exposed walking up the avenue with just a t-shirt and jeans on. Beside him, Jo was walking with her eyes on her phone, silently scrolling. Dean waited a few seconds, and then said impatiently,

“Well, _ tell _me, then.”

Jo made a little noise of annoyance and scrolled back up on her Instagram feed to the picture the two of them had posted earlier that day, grinning into the camera with Jo’s arm slung around Dean’s shoulders.

“She said, _ oh-em-gee you lovebirds are so cute together. _”

“Oh-em-gee?”

Jo held the phone out for Dean to see. Under the pic, Dean could see the comment Jo had read out next to the handle _ lisa_baeden. _

“How many times do we have to tell her,” Dean said.

“I don’t know. But I’m getting real done with it. People I actually want to date think something’s happening between us, too. They’re getting put off by you.”

“Seriously?”

“Well, it was one time. And it might be more to do with the fact that I spent our whole first date talking about the work I’m getting done at the bar to fix the place up. Didn’t notice his eyes glazing over, but I didn’t get a second date, so.”

“He sounds like a jerk, anyway.”

“You never met him,” Jo said, squinting back down at her phone.

“Anyone who doesn’t want a second date with you is a jerk.”

Jo grinned at him.

“You’re a nerd. But thanks.” She glanced back down at her phone. “Okay, I think it’s just this way…”

“It’s way too hot for this,” Dean said.

“Not complaining, are we? Like I said that you would, when you asked to go see the Eiffel Tower right now, this afternoon, even though it’s going to be way less warm tomorrow?”

“Complaining? No,” Dean said hastily. “No, I’m just, uh. Just sayin’. It’s pretty hot. Look, the sunset’s supposed to be real nice tonight…”

Jo shrugged.

“You know that if we post any pics with it, everyone’s just gonna say that we’re dating again, right?”

Dean made a noise that was both acknowledgement and irritation. When he had Jo had planned this trip together as a big blow-out spending spree after their first paycheck in their first jobs after college, it had felt like a great idea. For two weeks, though, their Paris pics had been subject to their friends’ wink emojis and innuendos. Jo’s mother had even called to ask if they were getting married. There were only so many times that they could reply to insist that the two of them were what they’d been pretty much from day one of meeting each other: best friends. Close, understanding each other in a way that not many others did - they’d come out to each other first in college - but in a way that was not and had never been even slightly romantic. They were easy around each other. It had always felt natural.

“Just a bit further…” Jo said, as they walked past the Café du Trocadéro and crossed a busy road.

“Maybe I’ll take a picture with someone else,” Dean said, narrowing his eyes even behind his sunglasses as the shade of the buildings faded and they were hit with the full glare of the lowering sun. “And just tell everyone I’m dating them so they leave us alone.”

“Nice,” Jo said. “Okay, I think it’s - oh!”

She caught sight of the tower just as Dean did; walking out onto the Place du Trocadéro, a wide square with an elegant black-and-white floor, they found themselves among a bustling crowd of other tourists gathered to get their snaps and see the view. She and Dean paused, looking over towards the Eiffel Tower and the horizon beyond. The sky was already beginning to paint itself in delicate pinks and oranges, little breaths of softness after the hard and blazing blue of a cloudless day. The metal tower with its latticework made a striking silhouette.

Jo put her head on one side after a few moments.

“I mean,” she said, “not bad.”

“Yeah,” Dean replied. “It’s okay.”

“Like, I mean, it’s a little…” She tilted her hand from side to side.

“Well, it’s not the Lawrence, Kansas skyline, is it,” Dean said.

“Not even close,” Jo said seriously.

“But it’ll do, I guess.”

They grinned at each other. As the sun began to truly set, they took snaps of each other posing in front of the tower, some of them trying to look nice, others just derpy selfies with their tongues out. After a while, they went and sat on the steps to the back of the square, and Jo pulled up Instagram.

“You’re not gonna post, are you?” Dean said.

“They’re not gonna stop me from being that obnoxious vacation selfie person,” Jo said. “I don’t care if everyone thinks we’re married with eight kids by the time we get home.”

She sounded the same kind of determined that she’d once sounded when she’d insisted she’d be fine to go to her ex’s birthday party in their second year of college. The night had ended with a lot of crying in the back of a taxi, if Dean remembered right. He didn’t bring it up, though. He just shrugged and kept looking out over the view.

He was going to miss this, when he was back home. And he was going to miss this city, Paris. He’d heard so much about it - it was always hyped up so high - that he’d thought it could only disappoint. But it was awesome, he had to admit it. Around every corner was a new wonder. Going home would mean finding a new fast-food outlet on each corner, instead. And speaking of food, the restaurants here were incredible; Dean had never eaten so well. Starting every day with a different pastry from the patisserie nearest their hotel… he was going to miss it. Horribly.

Jo put her phone down.

“There,” she said. “Done.”

He could tell by the way that she said it, she wasn’t sure that she’d done the right thing. 

“It doesn’t matter what they think,” Dean said.

“I know that,” Jo said. “But they think that what they think matters. It’s just aggravating.”

“I know.” Dean grinned at her. “Wanna go get something to eat?”

“We only just ate!”

“It was five hours ago. At _ least.” _

“Just a few more minutes up here. Maybe we’ll never be able to come back. This might be our only chance to sit and look at this view together.” She paused, and then said, “Not in like a… I don’t mean, like…” She sounded awkward and Dean realised she’d noticed the romantic way that what she’d said could have been taken. He grimaced internally. Those damn comments were getting in her head.

“It’s all good,” he said. “It’s - this is - it’s nice, yeah.”

The silence was one with zero chemistry. There was no charge between them. Or at least, nothing that Dean could feel; he just didn’t know where to look, didn’t know if he should be saying more. 

“Do you ever wish things were… you know… different between us?” Jo asked.

“I mean… no,” Dean said. “Honestly.”

“Okay. Good. Me either. I just don’t want you to think that I’m sitting here wishing anything.”

“Nah, man. Nothin’ like that. I mean, everyone’s thinking I’m the sad sack in those comments, anyway. Not you. Everyone’s always kinda assumed I’m the one who - you know. And you don’t… yeah.”

“Yeah,” Jo said quietly.

“Can’t get their heads around the idea that I might just wanna be your friend. Not waiting for anything.”

“Fucking _ When Harry Met Sally _bullshit,” Jo said, with feeling.

“Yeah.” Dean looked down at the white stone floor they were sitting on. If he was honest, it hadn’t always been easy going through college with everyone constantly looking down on him just a little, thinking that he was playing the long game to try to get with Jo. No one had ever taken him at his word that he just really, really goddamn liked her as a friend - no one other than his own brother Sam, who knew him well enough to be able to tell without being told.

Jo’s phone dinged with her Instagram notification noise, and Dean winced. She pulled it out, and spent a few seconds reading - and then made a furious little sound.

“Hmm?” Dean said, unwillingly.

“They’re jerks,” Jo muttered vehemently. “Total jerks.”

“What’s it say?”

“Nothing.”

“That bad?”

Jo winced.

“C’mon. I’m gonna see it sometime.”

Jo turned the phone towards him with obvious reluctance. Dean leaned closer to read it.

** _lisa_baeden _ ** _ pls tell me there’s gonna be a ring when you get home !! _  
** _crossroadscrowley _ ** _ nice guys finish last. but they do finish _  
** _meg_a_big_deal _ ** _ lol is dean finally getting it? took him long enough _ _  
_ ** _bellabela _ **_oh jo honey no you didn’t start dating stalker dean_

“Stalker?” Dean said, trying to sound normal.

“That’s Bela. You remember her. The one who made, like, three different people quit classes she was in, just by being awful to them.”

“Oh, uh-huh. Yeah.” Dean could feel anger building up inside. Stalker? Finally getting it? How many times did he have to tell people that he wasn’t into Jo that way? How many people thought he was a hopeless loser because of this?

Enough was enough.

“You know what? I’m blocking her,” Jo said.

Enough was _ enough. _

“No,” Dean said. Jo looked over at him, surprised.

“But she’s -”

“She’s about to find out that I’m not into you that way,” Dean said, standing up and brushing his clothes down. “How do I look?”

“Uh…?” Jo said.

“Great. Good. Hey, does anyone here speak English? Anybody? Uh, _ parlay-view… english… madame? Monsieur?” _Dean turned left and right, trying to catch the eyes of anyone walking past. A few people shrugged him off with a weird look, and one couple actively stepped away from him. Dean looked back towards Jo, who was looking mortified and also giggling. “Anyone?” Dean said. “English?”

“I speak English,” said a voice behind Dean. 

A deep voice.

A really _ nice _deep voice.

Dean turned around. Standing there in front of him was - holy _ crap. _

Blue eyes, dark hair, a sharp jawline and a solemn expression. The guy had a t-shirt on that showed his huge arms. He was muscular, athletic_. _He looked like he could easily lift Dean up off the ground.

Focus. Dean needed to focus.

“Hey,” he said. “Hi. Thanks for stopping.”

“Can I help you?” said the stranger. “Are you lost?”

“Yeah - I mean, no, not lost,” Dean said. _ Lost in your eyes, maybe, _said the worst corner of his brain. “Uh, but maybe you could help. See, it’s kind of a weird situation, but - you see this girl just here?”

“Dean…” Jo groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Don’t bring me into this.”

“I see her,” the stranger said, a little uncertainly.

“Okay, so. This is gonna sound… like...” Dean might have stopped there, lost confidence, if the guy had made the wrong face. Instead, Dean was faced with an expression of accepting curiosity that kept him talking. “The thing is, we’re on vacation together, as friends. But everyone at home keeps assuming we’re together, and they’re being assholes about it. We wanna convince them nothing’s happening between us. So, uh.” Dean bit his lip. 

Somehow, it was only just dawning on him that the guy might really not be into the idea that Dean was about to propose. In fact, depending on how _ much _the guy wasn’t into it, this could be the start of a very bigoted reaction from a very beautiful stranger. But Dean had come this far with his focus so complete on his plan that he’d forgotten homophobia was even a thing - and now the guy was looking at him with sincere curiosity, and Dean didn’t know what else to say but the truth.

“So,” he said awkwardly, “the thing I wanted to ask was… well...” He rubbed the back of his neck - and in that moment, he saw light dawn in the guy’s eyes.

“You should take a picture with someone else to show that you’re not together,” the guy said. “A couple picture.”

Dean blinked.

“Holy crap,” Dean heard Jo say.

“Uh… yeah,” Dean said. “I mean… yeah, that was exactly it.” Was his plan the obvious one to make, or were he and this guy just both the same wavelength of weird? Either way, the guy was nodding, and Dean’s heart leapt.

“It’s a good tactic,” the stranger said. “I think you’ll convince a lot of people that your relations with this person are strictly platonic, particularly if she is the one to post the picture. Perhaps with a supportive caption.”

“Damn,” Jo said.

“Yeah,” Dean said, still feeling as though he’d had the Parisian stone floor swept out from under his feet. “Yeah, so, I was thinking, maybe it’d work to go over and stand in front of the sunset, and…”

“Absolutely. We should find you someone to take the picture with.”

Dean’s mouth fell open.

“Oooh,” he heard Jo wince.

“Uh, right,” Dean said. “Yeah.”

“Do you have any gender preference?”

Now, there was a question. The guy was looking at Dean frankly. It was a simple request for information; there was no promise of judgement in his eyes.

“No,” Dean said. “I’m bi.” The stranger nodded. And there, in front of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, Dean had the least stressful coming-out he’d ever experienced in his entire life.

“Hmm. You probably want someone you find good-looking, to be able to perform the role to maximum effect,” the stranger said. “Let me see. What do you think of that one, over there? I could ask them if they’d be willing to…”

He started to ramble, pointing out different tourists. Dean glanced down at Jo, who was watching the scene in front of her unfold with obvious enjoyment. She wiggled her eyebrows at Dean when he caught her eye, and jerked her head towards the stranger.

Dean shook his head.

She pulled a face, and nodded her head towards him again.

Dean’s head-shake became more fervent.

Jo rolled her eyes, and lifted up her phone, which still had the worst Instagram comments up on the screen.

Dean wavered.

“- I know you don’t speak French,” the guy was saying, “and she was speaking French, but I think I could ask her for you. I’m not fluent but I know enough to get by, and -”

“How about _ we _just do it?” Dean said abruptly.

The stranger stopped short, turning away from his crowd of potentially alluring tourists to look at Dean.

“I mean,” Dean said, feeling his heart starting to thud, “unless you don’t want to. This is, uh. Just, well. I don’t know.”

“Are you sure you could look as though you were attracted to me?” the man said seriously - not as though he doubted his own attractiveness, and more in the tone of voice that he might use to verify Dean’s thoughts on the weather.

“Um,” Dean said, “yeah? I mean, yeah… yeah.” Each time he said it, he tried to sound more casual. Each time, it came out slightly less so.

The guy seemed to look at Dean - really _ look _at him - for the first time. He appeared to consider for a half-second, and then Dean noticed a smile at the corners of the guy’s mouth.

Dean found himself smiling, too, and then they were both just looking at each other and smiling and not saying anything, but it didn’t feel weird. It felt good. Or maybe it did feel a little weird, but it was the same wavelength of weird.

Around them, people were chattering and walking around the square.

“Then let’s take the picture,” the guy said.

“Okay. Okay, great. Uh, Jo?”

“I’m on it,” Jo said; she already had her phone up, camera on them. “Let’s just go a little further over this way, so there’s not so many people in the background, and we get the skyline… yeah, great. Awesome. Now, look coupley.”

Dean thought his face might actually be going red. His arms felt too big. He met the guy’s eyes, and shrugged. This was ridiculous, he told himself. This was ridiculous, and it was also somehow the best part of the entire vacation so far, and he hadn’t quite lost that smile.

“Uh…” he said. “Okay. I’ll just…”

He put his arm around the guy’s shoulder.

“I’m going to put my hand on your hip,” the stranger said gravely.

_ Please absolutely do it, _said Dean’s mind.

“Cool,” Dean said aloud. When the guy’s hand touched him, he swallowed.

“You look a little stiff,” Jo said, moving the phone around and trying different angles. “Try talking with each other. You know, just have some fun with it.”

“I believe they call it a candid,” the guy said.

“Exactly. Dean, this guy’s a pro.”

“Are you?” Dean asked, only half-joking. “Do you really pull social media heists for money?”

The stranger smiled.

“No. Do you?”

“Hope I’d be better at it, if I did,” Dean said. His arm on the guy’s shoulder did feel awkward. He shifted, pulling the guy in a little closer, and then half-smiling in embarrassment. Jo was snapping away in the meantime. “Sorry, uh…”

“No, it’s good. We should pretend to laugh at a joke together. That’s very candid.”

“Really? Okay. Maybe you should actually tell a joke, first. So that we have something to laugh at.”

“Very well.” The guy paused, looking thoughtful. After a moment, he said, “Why was six afraid of seven?”

Dean snorted, just at the familiar set-up.

“I don’t know,” he said, going along with it.

“Because,” the stranger said, “seven is a prime number, and prime numbers can be intimidating.”

Dean was almost annoyed at himself for laughing. He’d just been expecting the usual slightly lame punchline, and the guy’s answer took him by surprise, and next thing he knew he was freaking _chuckling _for a whole few seconds while the man beside him looked very pleased with himself, that small smile back on his face.

“Great,” Jo said. “Let’s try a few more…”

“We could pose… like this…” The guy reached over and took Dean’s hand.

“Oh, yeah, that’s good.” They held the stance for a few seconds. “Or, we could be kinda facing each other… yeah, if you turn, too…”

Jo was snapping pictures as they tried out different ways of standing, different poses, different expressions.

“Looking awesome, guys,” she kept saying. “Mmm-hmmm, keep going, this is great.”

“You could… on my cheek…” The guy raised an eyebrow as Dean broke off.

“You want me to…”

“Only if you, uh, you want to -”

The guy leaned in and pressed a kiss to Dean’s cheek. Jo came in close, capturing the moment; Dean thought maybe his face wouldn’t look happy so much as taken by complete surprise - but it was definitely a very good surprise, so he could hope it was still a good photo.

“Great,” Jo said. “Good. We’ve probably got enough to...”

“You should kiss me,” the guy said.

Dean, who had been about to extricate himself from what had definitely become an embrace as they’d got more comfortable with posing together, stopped moving.

“Like… on the… cheek?” Dean asked.

“If you prefer.”

Dean looked over at Jo, who nodded and brought her phone camera back up, ready. He leaned in, and pecked the guy on the cheek. It was a brief, dry kind of kiss, a lot less nice than the one he'd been given. The guy didn’t pull away, though. 

Under Dean’s lips, his skin had felt soft, but Dean had been able to feel the slight stubble where his afternoon shadow was coming in.

“Okay,” Jo said. “So -”

“No, wait, I can do that better.” Dean met the guy’s eyes, and he made a _ sure, continue _kind of face, so Dean leaned in again. This time he gave it a little more, pressing a little harder, letting his lips be a little softer. And when he pulled away, he didn’t go too far. The guy smelled amazing. He was so close, and he was turning to look at Dean, his eyes flicking down to Dean’s lips.

The moment wavered, tilted, balanced...

“You should kiss me,” the stranger said again.

Dean did not need telling thrice.

This time, he slid his hand under the guy’s chin and held him, carefully, as he kissed his lips. That would look good for the picture, right? The stranger moved with him, one hand shifting up to the back of Dean’s neck and holding him steady as he kissed back; under his touch, Dean’s whole mind was an uproarious pounding fluttering blank, a delighted whirl. He was kissing a stranger in front of the Eiffel Tower. He was kissing a stranger, and the stranger was _ good _at kissing - and then Dean stopped thinking about where he was and what was happening around them altogether when the guy carefully opened his mouth just a little, and Dean felt the guy’s tongue brush ever so lightly against his lower lip. 

Now there was no tower, no sunset, no photos, no performance. The kiss deepened, hands tightened. The guy pulled back just long enough to tilt his head the other way and then came back, his hold on Dean’s neck keeping Dean steady in place as he did so - and when that grip moved up into Dean’s hair, Dean heard himself make a noise in the back of his throat that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than sheer enjoyment. He pushed harder into the kiss, taking control, and the guy let him - let the way they touched become a little rougher, just for a few moments, and then the lightest of touches on Dean’s cheek soothed the wave of urgency between them and they eased, gently, apart.

The guy came back for another quick kiss, once.

Twice.

Dean opened his eyes. He thought for a second he might literally see stars.

The stranger was looking at him. From the expression on his face, he was looking for those stars, too.

Dean swallowed.

“Uh,” he said. “Hey.”

“Hello,” the stranger said.

“That…”

“Yes.”

Dean wanted more, but he didn’t want to push his luck or make the guy uncomfortable. It was still possible that this was all just for a photo in his mind. Dean couldn’t keep the smile off his face, though, at the thought of what they’d just done. His mind was already playing the memory back for him in hungry detail. The way the guy had held him, had let him take control and then taken it back, the give and take, the -

Dean _ really _wanted more.

The guy, though, was moving away just a little further - and then he held out his hand.

“I’m Castiel,” he said.

“Dean,” he managed, shaking the guy’s hand. It was all he could do not to use that hand to pull this guy - Castiel? - back into a kiss. “Uh, Castiel’s not a name I’ve heard before.”

“Yes. It’s unusual, I know…”

“No, it - I mean, yeah, but it’s real nice. I like it.” Dean turned to look at Jo, remembering that she was there for the first time in a minute or so. Jo was standing and watching them both, a huge grin on her face. Dean became suddenly very conscious of the fact that he’d just made out with someone in front of her. He pulled a little further away from Castiel, but not too far. Still close enough for their arms to be touching.

“You know,” Jo said, “I think that was probably just about convincing enough.”

“Right. Yeah. Great, good.” Dean looked over at the stranger he’d just kissed, and then found himself looking down and away with a half-smile on his face, like a school kid. “Awesome.”

“I’m gonna post this right now,” Jo said. “Also, hi, we didn’t really… I’m Jo, by the way.”

“Castiel,” said Castiel.

It would be weird for Dean to ask if he wanted to make out again. It would be super weird. Dean had the feeling, though, from the way Castiel glanced over towards him, that they were on it again, that same wavelength of weird.

“What are you doing this evening?” Dean asked.

Castiel smiled.

“No real plans,” he said. “This is my last day in Paris before heading back to the US. I was just thinking I would walk around alone, and enjoy a few of the sights one last time.”

“Ah,” Dean said.

“But I did already see them,” Castiel said.

“Oh?”

“Yes. Probably enough times.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

“And the alone thing…”

“I think I’ve had enough time alone, in fact.”

He said the words with a little more feeling than Dean had been expecting - and somehow, he knew exactly what Castiel meant.

“Aaaaand, posted,” Jo said. “Also, I’m glad you’re making plans, because I’m pretty sure if you kiss a guy like that and then don’t take him out to dinner after, every true-blooded Parisian romantic in a five-mile radius will physically attack you. And they’ll have to get in line behind me, so.”

Dean snorted.

“It doesn’t have to be… I mean… it’s just… I mean…” he trailed off, with no idea where he’d even been going with that sentence when he’d started it. He caught Jo’s eye, and she raised an eyebrow. He screwed up his courage, and looked back to Castiel. “Would you let me take you out to dinner tonight?”

Castiel smiled that little smile of his.

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, please.”

\---

In her hotel room, lounging in a decadently thick bathrobe on her lush king-sized bed, Jo heard a notification on her phone and reached to pick it up.

She opened her latest message: a picture from Dean. A selfie of Dean himself and Castiel, with their faces touching so that they could squeeze the Eiffel Tower into the background of the picture.

_ He lives in Missouri. Not far. Fuck yeah??, _read the text that came with it.

_ Fuck YEAH, _she replied. 

Dean’s response came quickly.

_ Thanks for everything today. _Jo grinned.

_ Dork, _she texted back.

_ Nerd. _

Jo rolled her eyes, and was about to put her phone away when she saw an Instagram notification flash up at the top of the screen. She opened the app, her eyes narrowed in anticipation. She’d chosen the very best of the pics she’d snapped of Dean and Castiel to post. There was no way anyone could be in any doubt that the two of them had some kind of instant magical connection. Right?

** _lisa_baeden _ ** _ omg jo I didn’t know you and dean had an open relationship !! _

Jo closed her eyes. She counted to ten. She made the effort to loosen her grip on the phone in her hand. Even so, when she opened her eyes, she was still on the point of launching her phone across the room at the wall directly opposite her -

Another notification. Jo didn’t know if she could stand it - but then she saw who it was from.

** _lisa_baeden _ ** _ just kidding ! Love you guys and this is so cute, vacation romance… jealous xoxo _

Setting her phone down, Jo breathed out. 

No counting her chickens before they hatched, but _ maybe, _just possibly, she’d now be able to hang out with her best friend without anyone insisting they knew the relationship better than she did. With a smile, she picked up the hotel phone. One round of room service hadn’t been enough.

And across the city, outside a little bar deep in a warren of streets, Dean was leaning against a wall and being kissed by Castiel. The stone was cool against his back, Castiel pressing warm against his front. No one disturbed them. They kissed in quiet, enjoying each other’s touch, opening up under each other’s hands.

After some time, they pulled apart.

“Dean… contrary to how it may have come across,” Castiel murmured, “I do like to take things slowly, most of the time.”

“I can do slowly.”

“You’re sure?”

Dean didn’t know how to explain that if he could, he’d preserve himself in this exact moment like a bug in amber, and just live in it. This exact moment, here, now. All the hope, all the promise. The way Castiel looked at him. The way Dean knew that if he even just tilted his chin up a little, Castiel would kiss him again, like he wanted. He didn’t want to move from this, and exactly this. It filled him up.

“I’m sure,” he said.

They wandered the city until late, far too late. But Dean didn’t want them to go back to their hotels and be alone. When dawn came, it found them sleepy-eyed, looking out over the river, milky in the first light.

“Come back to my room,” Dean said. “Just to sleep.”

And so they went home together. As they would do, from that point on.


End file.
